[Clegg] Zeus questions

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Fri, 4 Feb 2005 14:17:20 -0500, km1h <km1h at jeremy.mv.com> wrote:
> Todd, Ive had a Zeus/Interceptor on 6 AM for years.
> 
> Never had arcing problems even into 3:1 VSWR, dont know what version I have.
> 
> I tested over 30 4x150A thru 4CX250 and 120-130W is max on 6M. and 95-105 on
> 2M.
> I load a bit heavy which seems to improve the already weak modulation.
> Havent made any mods except to get rid of the ballast tube.
> 
> Havent been very active lately but I worked the Albany group nightly as well
> as all over CT, RI, VT, MA, etc.from about 25m NW of Boston.
> Most were only running 2-10W but my location and antenna helped a ton. This
> was all using the Interceptor on receive.

Thanks for the remarks, Carl - 

I should've added that 6 seemed to load up pretty clean, it was 2 that
caused arcing. This into a large broadcast dummy load.

More and more I'm thinking that the PA might be soft, simply because
everything else seems to tune to spec, I even have to cut back on the
drive for tuning 6. Only after final tuning in the 'operate'  do I
find that, despite following the tuning instructions to the letter, do
I see a realtively low output. By your figures, I'm seeing about half
of what I should see. I'd be curious to know how you deal with the
modulation and clipper set up, too. Seems almost counter-intuitive.
Maybe I'm reading it wrong.

Any suggestions on a good antenna? I was thinking of one of those 6
meter Ringos for listening, with a decent yagi for actual ragchewing.
Wire dipole works okay on the Venus for nearby SSB stuff, but I doubt
it would cut it for AM work. Albany is only a couple hours or so SW of
me as the crow flies, so it shouldn't be all that difficult to hear
them. Boston might be another story, though.

The only mod to the transmitter set up appears to be the PTT circuit
added. Interceptor was another story, though. Two holes bored into the
back the size of a dime or larger, one to replace the RCA speaker jack
with an antique 1/4" jack (the kind where the front connector goes
through the panel and threads into the jack in back) with oversized
washers, the other was holding one of those jacks used on the old WWII
beacon sets. And it wasn't even hooked to anything! Fortunately I had
a matching RCA jack and a thin, wide washer that was even alodined the
same color as the chassis. Mod reversal came out looking pretty good
for the speaker, but there's still a gaping hole where the unused
connector was.

I'm pretty excited to get these things working, now I can't wait to
get them on the air for a try out. Need to get an antenna up first.

73, Todd  KA1KAQ